


Something to Celebrate

by klainederful



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam's POV, Fluff, Gen, I'm sorry if this makes you crave chocolate cake, M/M, Platonic Pynch, Post-The Dream Thieves, Pre-Relationship, Ronan has a surprise for Adam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4836140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klainederful/pseuds/klainederful
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Close your eyes.”</i><br/>Adam blinked. “What? Why?”<br/>Ronan rolled his eyes. “Because it’s a surprise<i>, Parrish. I trust you’re familiar with the concept?”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Something to Celebrate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [e_cat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_cat/gifts).



> I wish you a wonderful birthday! <3

Adam stepped out of the trailer factory and into the hot humidity of a typical summer day in Henrietta, wiping his brow. He was heading for his car, already thinking about the things he needed to do before getting to finally rest, when he spotted Ronan. Leaning against the shiny side of his charcoal BMW, he looked as out of place as a black opal amongst common rocks. The eyes of more than one factory worker were trained on him, out of envy or admiration or something else, but he didn’t seem to notice. He waved at Adam.

“What are you doing here?”

The moment he joined him, Adam felt his coworkers’ stares shifting from Ronan to himself, their curiosity making his skin prickle. There were whispers, too, but stopped the moment Ronan pushed off his car’s side and removed his sunglasses. His ferocious gaze didn’t encourage scrutiny or comments.

“Get in, loser. We’re going for a drive.”

Adam tilted his head to the left, where his car was parked on a patch of dry grass, but Ronan waved him off.

“You can come get your shitbox later, Parrish, come on.”

Adam’s muscles ached with exhaustion, his eyes burned with the lack of sleep and there was a pile of laundry waiting for him in his apartment. He briefly considered the possibility of telling Ronan to go away, but he was looking at him expectantly, his fingers drumming on the roof of his car, strangely jittery. Adam got in.

The moment he did, his coworkers’ whispers were back, and not even Ronan’s brand of intimidation could stop them now. Adam forced himself to keep his head high, even though his cheeks had gotten warmer. They were all probably wondering what was a guy like Ronan doing being friends with Adam Parrish, an exhausted shadow of a boy with dust under his fingernails and bruises on his skin. Sometimes, Adam asked himself  the same thing.

“Fucking finally,” Ronan commented, getting behind the wheel and slamming his door shut. “I thought I was going to melt out there.”

As the BMW purred to life, a gush of air conditioning hit Adam, making him shiver at the sudden temperature drop. Wordlessly, Ronan reached out and turned it off, opting to open the windows instead.

“Did Gansey find out something new about the cave?” Adam asked, because there was no other reason he could think of for the aura of nervous anticipation that surrounded Ronan. His fingers clenched and unclenched on the steering wheel, and he was tormenting his bottom lip with his teeth in a completely uncharacteristic way. He glanced at him quickly, then away.

“No.”

They were not meeting with Gansey, then. Adam frowned. “I have things to do.”

Ronan rolled his eyes. “ _I have things to do_ ,” he repeated in a high-pitched, exaggerated version of Adam’s accent. “They can wait. This can’t.”

“Fuck you, Lynch”, Adam said, or maybe just thought. His eyelids felt too heavy all of a sudden, the gentle purring of the BMW’s engine making him sleepy. Perhaps he should inquire  more about their destination, but curiosity required energies he didn’t have at that moment, and he didn’t think Ronan would give him an answer anyway. So, Adam let his head fall back and closed his eyes, enjoying the way the wind caressed his face and cooled his skin.

Even with his eyes closed, he soon recognized the road to the Barns, all bumps and sharp turns. Why was Ronan so nervous to go there? Ever since he’d dreamed Niall’s new will, there was nothing stopping him from going back to his old home. Not that it had before.

Adam’s eyes snapped open when he heard the passenger’s door being yanked open. Ronan was standing outside, an impatient twist to his mouth. He kept shifting his weight from foot to foot in an incongruous show of nerves. Adam raised his eyebrows.

“What a gentleman.”

His voice was think with weariness, vowels merging together. Ronan scoffed.

“You can open your own damn door next time, Sleeping Beauty.”

As soon as Adam got out of the car, he noticed the air was crisper here, far from the town’s humidity. He took a deep breath, enjoying the freshness of it in his lungs, the way it made him feel less tired, less broken.

He followed Ronan down the path to the old farmhouse where the Lynches used to live, overgrown with weeds and populated by strange, impossible flowers. Adam touched their colorful petals lightly, feeling their velvety texture underneath his fingertips. When he looked up, he saw Ronan had stopped just shy of the front door and was studying him carefully, tormenting the hem of his black shirt. Before he could ask what was going on, now determined to get a satisfying answer, Ronan spoke:

“Close your eyes.”

Adam blinked. “What? Why?”

Ronan rolled his eyes. “Because it’s a _surprise_ , Parrish. I trust you’re familiar with the concept?”

Adam wasn’t, not really. The only kind of surprises he’d ever known had not been pleasant experiences.

“A surprise? For what?”

Ronan sighed deeply in exasperation, something Adam was sure he’d picked up from Gansey, and took a few steps towards him. “Just _do it_ , Parrish. I promise I won’t kiss you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m not _worried_ ,” Adam muttered, because he wasn’t. He was feeling something else, a restlessness and tension he couldn’t quite explain himself. After a last, long look at Ronan, he closed his eyes.

The scent of wild flowers and damp earth invaded his nostrils, carried by a gentle breeze that made leaves rustle. But the trees here had no demands for Adam.

He felt Ronan’s hands on his shoulders, their grip sure but gentle, their warmth seeping through his t-shirt.

“Come on,” Ronan urged, and Adam took a few, careful steps forward. He could feel Ronan’s body behind him, chest bumping into his back every once in a while.

“Stairs. Just three,” Ronan instructed, then left Adam’s side briefly to open the front door and turn the lights on, judging by the sound.

Adam took another step and stumbled, but immediately felt Ronan’s hand on his hip, steadying him. The touch was there and gone, but left Adam’s skin burning curiously, a thousand little needles piercing his skin.

Ronan’s low chuckle brushed his good ear. “I said _three_ steps, Parrish. Jesus.”

Adam was feeling dizzy all of a sudden. He let Ronan lead him further into the house, their steps muffled by what felt like a thick, soft carpet. Then the carpet was gone, and Ronan stopped.

“There. Stay here, but don’t open yet.”

Ronan’s hands disappeared and Adam heard something open and close, then a snap, followed by the smell of something burning. He opened his eyes without even thinking about it, but Ronan’s hands were back, covering his face.

“Nice try.”

“Does your surprise involve arson?”

“Ha-ha. I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet, Parrish. You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

Adam could smell something sweeter now, something he couldn’t quite place. He felt Ronan shift anxiously beside him.

“Ready?”

The mixture of tension and excitement in his voice made Adam smile. “Yes?”

“Okay,” Ronan hesitated a moment longer, than slid his hands off Adam’s face. “Open.”

Adam’s eyes opened on a dark, glossy cake standing on top of the Barns’ kitchen counter. It smelled delicious, of chocolate and sugar, and was decorated with blue candles, already lit. Adam didn’t need to count them to know there were eighteen of them.

He glanced at Ronan. “You do know it’s not my birthday, right?”

Ronan grimaced and crossed his arms over his chest, the gesture somehow defensive and aggressive at the same time. “Yeah, well, you didn’t exactly have time to celebrate it last week.”

Adam mirrored Ronan’s grimace at the memory of racing through Cabeswater, trying to make the ley line stronger, knowing Ronan needed its power desperately. Knowing he was the only one who could help him. He could still hear the trees and Persephone, telling him to hurry, hurry, _hurry_.

His birthday hadn’t even crossed his mind, not then, not even once Matthew was back in his Aglionby dorm room, unharmed, and the Gray Man had gone away. He had only remembered the next day at the garage, and had spent just a few seconds marveling at the fact of being eighteen now, of being almost done with Aglionby, of being alive.

Adam could see Ronan move restlessly from the corner of his eye.

“Parrish,” He said at last, a note of impatience in his voice. “Just blow the damn candles out, before they melt all over the frosting.”

Adam took a breath, then hesitated. “Should I make a wish?”

Ronan rested his elbows on the counter, raising a dark eyebrow. “Yes? Have you never done this before?”

Adam just shrugged and kept his eyes on the cake, studying the little orange flames carefully. He felt Ronan still next to him, but didn’t look up. He didn’t want to see the pity in his eyes.

The day of Adam Parrish’s birth had never been something to celebrate. Not to Adam’s father, who saw it as a painful reminder of his greatest mistake; not to his mother, for whom it was just another thing they couldn’t talk about; not to Adam himself, who spent the entire day keeping his head down and wondering if he would survive another year.

“Well,” Ronan said. “If that’s the case, we have to do it properly.”

Before Adam could ask what he meant, he began to sing. It was barely more than a low murmur, but it seemed to seep through Adam’s skin and sink into his bones, warming his whole body. “Happy birthday to you…” Ronan’s eyes glinted in the candlelight, and Adam found himself studying the way the light made his skin look golden, the way his lips moved around the words, looking impossibly soft.

“Happy birthday to you!”

By the time Ronan had finished singing, Adam’s cheeks felt as if they, too, were on fire.

Ronan, on the other hand, looked ridiculously pleased with himself, judging by his little smile and the way his eyes glinted. “Now close your eyes and make a wish.”

Adam wanted many things: to finish school, to find Glendower, to get out of Henrietta, to be successful, to defeat the angry monster he had inside. However, none of those things felt right to wish for in that moment, with the candlelight shining in Ronan’s eyes and the silence of the Barns wrapped around them like a cocoon. It was a different world, peaceful and full of promises, and he was a different Adam. In that moment, there wasn’t a single thing he wanted. He blew out the candles and a thin ribbon of smoke rose from them, filling his lungs. Ronan clapped a few times, the sound echoing in the empty house. “There! Now we eat it.”

Adam sat on one of the stools near the counter and accepted his slice, deep brown and tempting.

As he took his first bite, he thought that if the cake looked beautiful on the outside, it was nothing compared to the way it tasted. It seemed to melt on Adam’s tongue, creamy and lush, filling his mouth with the strong flavor of chocolate and just a hint of mint. He couldn’t help his small, blissful sigh.

“You like it?” Ronan sounded inexplicably nervous again, his question laced with anticipation. He was hovering over Adam, his slice still untouched.

Adam nodded enthusiastically and did his best to swallow before replying: “This tastes _amazing_!”

Ronan’s shoulders relaxed slightly, free from the previous tension, and he positively _beamed_. The expression was so unusual, Adam was left staring at him, while his heart sped up inexplicably.

For the first time since he’d met him, he was seeing a happy, unguarded Ronan, with a brilliant smile and a gleam in his eyes. That was, Adam thought, the Ronan before Niall’s death, the Ronan buried under all the hurt and loss he had experienced.

“Wait,” he said, glancing at the delicious cake, then back at Ronan. “Did you bake this yourself?”

And just like that, Ronan’s usual scowl was back, even though Adam could see a subtle flush on his cheeks.

“Don’t sound so surprised, Parrish. I do know how to do _some_ things.”

“Of course, I just meant –” Adam fell silent, but couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips. It felt like his heart had somehow grown bigger inside his chest, and a pleasant warmth was spreading through him at the thought that Ronan had not only thought to celebrate Adam’s birthday, but he’d taken the time to make the cake himself. All that just for Adam.

Ronan pushed himself on the counter, finally taking a bite of his slice. “My mom used to bake a cake like this one every year for my birthday, because it was my favorite. I’d sit right here and help her as best as I could.” He was looking right at Adam, but his gaze was lost in a memory. Then he shook his head and shrugged, as if what he was saying wasn’t important at all. “Anyway, that’s how I learned how to bake.”

Adam slowly chewed his last bit of cake. Somehow, knowing Ronan had made it himself made it taste even better than before.

He desperately wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn’t find the right words to express how he felt, the fluttering of his heart and the warmth in his chest. Cared for. Loved.

“Ronan?” He said hesitantly. As Adam stood up, Ronan put his plate aside, maybe alarmed by his tone. Adam saw a flash of surprise on his face before he closed the distance between them and hugged him.

“ _Thank you_.”

Adam felt Ronan’s body still, then a hand came slowly to Adam’s back in the smallest of touches. Ronan was still sitting on the counter, so Adam’s face came to his chest, his legs to either side of Adam’s body. His t-shirt smelled of lavender soap, which abruptly reminded Adam of the pitiful state of his own clothes after a day of work at the factory. He hurriedly pulled away, just in time to see Ronan’s free hand, covered in frosting, come up to his face.

“Ronan! Don’t waste it!”

Adam tried to sidestep, but ended up with a large smear of  sticky, sweet-smelling frosting across his cheek.

“You’re a savage!” He protested, but the laugh in his voice ruined the effect.

Ronan laughed merrily, hopping off the counter. “And _you_ let your guard down.”

Adam ran two fingers over his cheek, collecting as much of the frosting as he could. “Oh, yeah?”

Ronan’s eyes widened. “Don’t even _think_ about- ”

But Adam was already on him, determined to get his revenge. “Come here and face me like a man, Lynch!”

Ronan grabbed Adam’s arms to keep him at a safe distance, but Adam held out a leg to trip him. They both fell on the floor with a loud _thud_ , laughing and breathless and covered in frosting.

“Who’s the savage now, Parrish?” Ronan rolled onto his back, a smudge of frosting on his nose and a smirk on his lips.

Adam let his head fall on the cold tiles of the kitchen, feeling sated and content like he hadn’t felt in months. “Shut up.”

“Parrish?”

“Mh?”

Ronan turned his head just enough to look at him. “Happy birthday.”

Adam smiled. It really had been a very happy birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! (◡‿◡✿)  
> (Also, I'm not a native English speaker, so if you notice any mistakes, please tell me so I can fix them!)


End file.
